Beginnings and such...

According to my New Year's resolution, I'm supposed to start a blog on foster care and adoption and our experiences with that world. So here it goes...Blog #1.

My Husband is big on change. I am not. It's funny how God puts completely different people together. Kris loves change and thrives in it, it's almost like he's good at it. Usually change happens to me. I don't choose it, it chooses me(kinda like a tornado chooses a trailer park). It makes me feel like I'm walking through mud or have an elephant sitting on my chest...but I am getting better. And after this last year, I would almost have to say that I like it and am getting used to it...almost.

In the summer of 2009, Kris and I came to a conclusion that maybe we were going about this baby thing all wrong. Having a baby the old fashioned way didn't seem to be working for us. We always knew we wanted to adopt kids and even be foster parents, but it was always something we had talked about doing down the road. In our minds our first child would be a biological child and then maybe our 2nd one would be adopted and so on. This was big change #1. I think God is amused by my plans for my life. I also think he gets a little giggle out of changing them for me. I however grieved this change like I had lost a loved one. And theoretically I had. I was grieving the loss of the way I thought things should happen and the loss of the plans I had made for this unknown child...the one I thought should come first. I got to the point where I even told Kris that I just wanted someone to leave a baby in a basket at my door with a note saying, "Please take good care of my baby. I am not able to care for it anymore. I've watched you and I know you'll be great parents." Yeah, I think I was delusional.

Anyways, with that hurdle behind us and after deciding that the whole infertility route wasn't for us at this time, we began looking for other possibilities. It was really Kris that posed the whole "what are we waiting on" question. This was big change #2. We always knew that foster care was in our future. The more we prayed about it the more it was just confirmed in our minds and hearts that we weren't supposed to wait. We were supposed to do it NOW!
You know that verse in the bible that says, "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few..." that verse paints the perfect picture of foster care in America. The more we learned about the need, the more we wanted to take as many kids as possible into our home(all you experienced parents can laugh here).

We were licensed at the end of May of this year. Our first phone call for possible placement was 3 days later...and the calls came steadily(8 in all) until we were finally placed with 2 little girls, exactly 2 weeks after we were licensed(that's another blog for another day, I posted it on FB and will re-post it here). The girls did not stay long, as can be the case with emergency placements. When the caseworkers saw our home and met us they complimented us on how nice our home was and how kid-friendly it seemed(for those of you who have not seen our home...it is cute, small, warm and ours, but definitely small) They said we seemed very ready for a placement. We assumed that every house was ready for a placement...I mean when you're licensed isn't that the point? We found out that not all homes are ready for kids, or nice or even clean.

Anyways, because of that first placement we were called by the caseworker 3 days later on Friday, June 11th. We were told that they had a 3 month old infant who they would like to place in our home. She mentioned she was specifically calling us because she was impressed with us and wanted to place this child in a good home,(Yea us!) would we take him? Now, let me preface my answer with this...Kris was leaving the next day for a week at youth camp and I had 2 open houses scheduled for the weekend. But without thinking or even stopping to call Kris(sorry babe) I said "of course".
Really, she didn't even have to finish her sentence, she had me at 3 months and infant. She said, "great, I"ll see you in and hour". They were at our house in an hour with a 28 day old baby boy.(yes, sometimes caseworkers mess up on ages, race and even the sex of the child. They are busy people!) He was small and a little under-weight, but other than that he was perfect and it was love at first sight.

The scary part was when they left him with us. We hadn't had 9 months to plan and prepare. We hadn't read all the books on what to do, when to do it and how to do it. The miracle is that we did what came naturally. God is amazing at the peace he gives us in normally stressful situations. We also have amazing friends who upon receiving our text about the baby started showing up with clothes, diapers, a swing(which save my sanity), wipes, blankets, etc...stuff we didn't even know we needed. Big change #'s 3-200 follow in the next 6 months. ha!

So, this first blog ended up being a long one...and I didn't even put in all the stories that I could have. But I think it gives a good picture of what we went through and how we got there.

I have many hopes and prayers for this blog, but today my prayer is that this blog will open the eyes of Christians to the huge need of good, Christian foster/adoptive homes.

Is there risk?
Yes, but there is also risk in driving your car down the highway in the morning.
But this reward out weighs the risk by so much...I can't even count that high.

This world of forgotten children is one that we seldom mention in our churches today.

That needs to change.

And in our family, church and city, that change will begin with Kris and I.